Evil Spirits - a podcast by C3 Church Southwest WA

Invisible Luchadores: Evil Spirits

Luchadores are the many wrestling personalities that make up Mexico’s wrestling pop culture known as Lucha Libre. The luchador wears an iconic mask and matching outfit to reinforce is characters personality and storyline. He generally has a trademarked grappling move that he uses on his opponent to subdue them, pin them to the ground and disqualify them from the competition.

Luchadores are fictitious characters that exist for our entertainment, but life has a way of revealing very real luchadores that rise up to oppose the purposes and plans God has for all of our lives. They show up the moment we are conceived and are especially active when are young and vulnerable. They look to find success and establish a foothold in our lives, jumping into the ring whenever their grappling skills are needed. The luchador will nudge, shove, contain, carry off, submit and even destroy. He will function at any level we allow.

Luchadores have names, familiar to us all, like insecurity, discouragement, unbelief, fear, bitterness, deception, sickness, spirit, Satan. And the luchador is a master of disguise, the best of which is his ability to function without even being noticed. We see the negative circumstances he creates, but we fail to detect his presence. As a result, we think to ourselves, this is just the way life is sometimes, it’s how things often go, it’s something that we have to put up with, or at best, something we have to work around. We end up living lives that are less than what Jesus died for, simply because we fail to bring about the luchador’s eviction.

This series is designed to expose the invisible luchadores that we need to identify, call out, rebuke and banish forever so that we can thrive in life enjoying the good things that God has for each and every one of us!

 

Matthew 8:16 That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

Hollywood and pop-cultures depiction of spirits/demons has led many to disregard and even disbelieve their reality/function in the real world.  But scripture paints a far more normative picture:

Jesus had regular interactions with the Devil, demons and spirits.

• Satan in the desert – Matthew 4

• Syrophoenician woman with an unclean spirit - Mark 7:25–26 

• Mary Magdalene, who had seven demons - Luke 8:1–2; John 11:2 

• Man in synagogue - Mark 1:23–26

• Man called Legion – Mark 5:2-5

• Crowds - Matthew 8:16 

Jesus gave His disciples the mission/authority to cast out spirits.

Matthew 10:1 (ESV) And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

The Early Church regularly dealt with spirits.

• Peter - Acts 5:16

• Phillip – Acts 8:6-7

• Paul – Acts 16:16-17

Casting out spirits is part of a believer’s mission.

Mark 16:17–18 (ESV) And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;  they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Notables About Spirits: spirits are not to blame for everything or even the majority of things but they exist and are very real. They are not to be feared.

•  they impact us all on some level

  • Ephesians 6:12 (ESV) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

  • 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

• they attach to people through key gateways of sin (by, and against)

  • rebellion (Saul’s) - 1 Samuel 16:14–15 (ESV) Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.  And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you.

  • prostitution (Mary)  - John 11:2 (ESV) It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.

  • occult (Slave girl & Paul) - Acts 16:16–18 (ESV) As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling.  She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”  And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

  • unsaved (Syrophoenician) - Mark 7:25–26 (ESV) But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.  Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

  • Judas betrayal - Luke 22:3–4 (ESV) Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.  He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.

  • In my experience spirits nudge, budge, shove and onboard in  moments of fear, deception, loss, trauma, unforgiveness, bitterness, sin

• they drive those they attack into acts of self-sabotage\

  • Young boy - Mark 9:22 (ESV) And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

  • Demoniac - Mark 5:5 (ESV) Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

  • Saul trying to kill David - 1 Samuel 18:10–11 (ESV) The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand.  And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.

• respond to medication (as opposed to eviction) - 1 Samuel 16:23 (ESV) And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

• a common fingerprint of spirits is the presence of bizarre medical conditions

  • tongue but mute - Mark 9:17 (ESV) And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute.

  • ears but deaf - Mark 9:25 (ESV) And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

  • spirit of infirmity - Luke 13:11 (ESV) And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

• a common fingerprint of spirits is heightened emotional outbursts - Mark 5:5 (ESV) Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

• not intimidated by spiritual atmospheres (church) - Mark 1:23 (ESV) And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,

• when cast out, they will try to come back - Matthew 12:43–45 (ESV) “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.  Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

• while spirits will escalate from harassment to attachment to possession, there are no examples of believers being possessed

Walking In Freedom From Nudge, Budge, Shove….

Follow Jesus And Fear Not - Acts 19:13–16 (ESV) Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”  Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.  But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”  And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Recognize A Spirits Influence

• testing - Romans 12:2 (ESV) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

• test - 1 John 4:1 (ESV) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

• recognition - 2 Corinthians 2:11 (ESV) so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

• discerning of spirits - 1 Corinthians 12:10 (KJV 1900) To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

• ask for wisdom - James 1:5 (ESV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

 

Identify And Call The Spirit By Name

• what is your name?  Luke 8:30 (ESV) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.

• name reveals attachment point 

 

Command The Spirit To Leave With Your God-Given Authority

• cast out with the word - Matthew 8:16 (ESV) That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.

• cast out with authority - Mark 6:7 (ESV) And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

 

Walk In The Spirit, Strong & Without “Velcro”

• be filled with the spirit - Ephesians 5:18 (ESV) And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,

• the Spirit is the strongest man - Matthew 12:43–45 (ESV) “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.  Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

• Renounce all sin (no velcro) - Titus 2:11–12 (ESV) For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,  training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

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